This invention relates to the loading and unloading of motor vehicles, one at a time, into and out of lightweight movable sleeves without having to actually drive the vehicles into and out of the sleeves.
In application Ser. No. 040,469, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,916 a lightweight sleeve is disclosed which carries a plurality of motor vehicles in vertically separated rows. Once loaded with vehicles this sleeve is inserted into a standard cargo container which may be transported in a conventional fashion. When the container reaches its destination the sleeve is removed from the container and the vehicles are unloaded from the sleeve. This system has two advantages over loading the vehicles directly into the container. First, it is much easier to attach motor vehicles at multiple levels in an open-sided sleeve than in a narrow enclosed container. In addition, all of the attachment mechanism is in the sleeve, thereby leaving the container clean so that it can be used to carry other types of cargo without any modification.
In these devices the vehicles are attached to the sleeve by means of a pair of cradles, one of which supports the front tires of the vehicle and one of which supports the rear tires of the vehicle. For each vehicle which is loaded into the sleeve a pair of cradles is placed in the sleeve at the proper spacing and the vehicle is driven into the sleeve and over the cradles. Gantries having lifting devices in them are used to raise the cradles to the proper height in the sleeve. Finally, the cradles are attached to tension members which are suspended from the sides of the sleeve.
This system is quite slow since the vehicles must be driven into the sleeve onto the cradles positioned and attached to the sleeve one at a time. In addition, driving the vehicle into or out of a sleeve which is only slightly wider than the vehicle is likely to cause damage to the vehicle, particularly when its door is open to enable the driver to get in or out.
In application Serial No. 181,684 an apparatus was disclosed which speeds up the process of loading motor vehicles into sleeves and eliminates the necessity of driving the vehicles into and out of the sleeves. This apparatus supports a sleeve in a raised position which allows a motor vehicle to be driven onto a lifting device which is positioned below the sleeve. The lifting device then raises the vehicle into the sleeve through its bottom. The cradles, which support the front and rear tires of the vehicle, are positioned between upstanding plates which form the vehicle support surfaces of the lifting device. Thus, the cradles are positioned under the tires of the vehicle when it is driven onto the lifting device and are lifted with the vehicle. Cradle latches, which are attached to the tension members, can be moved to loading positions which permit the cradles to pass by them when the lifting device is raised and to latching positions where they engage the ends of the cradles when the lifting device is lowered. Accordingly, an entire level of vehicles can be lifted into the sleeve at one time and attached nearly automatically when the lifting device is lowered again. Since an entire level of cars is loaded at one time, loading occurs much faster than in the previously disclosed system. In addition, since the vehicles are not driven into the sleeve damage is almost nonexistent. However, devices of this type are extremely expensive and can only be justified where a large volume of cars is being loaded and unloaded on a continual basis.
The subject invention overcomes the foregoing shortcomings and limitations of the prior art by providing a sled which will support at least one motor vehicle and is dimensioned to fit within the lightweight sleeve it will be used to load. The sled is movable on tracks which extend through substantially the entire extent of the sleeve, and at least one sled length in front of it. Thus, the sled can be used to move motor vehicles into and out of a sleeve, which eliminates the necessity of the motor vehicles having to be driven into the sleeve where there is a likelihood that the vehicle will sustain damage. The sled is movable into and out of the sleeve by means of an endless chain which can be driven in either direction by means of a motor.
The sled has a pair of spaced-apart wheel ramps which are formed from rows of side-by-side angle beams. Thus, the cradles which are used to support the front and rear tires can be placed between adjacent pairs of the angle beams so that the tires of the vehicle will pass over them when the vehicle is driven onto the sled. The ends of the cradles are engaged by cradle latches which are slidably raised up a tension member by means of a lifting device located in a gantry which can be moved to any desired position along the sleeve. Pins, which fit through holes in the tension members, attach the cradle latches to the tension members when they have been raised to the proper level.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is mounted on a pair of flatbed trailers so that it will be aligned with cargo containers which are carried on similar trailers. A first trailer has frame guides extending across its bed which receive the wheels of the sleeve. Located beside the frame guides are gantry guides which receive the wheels on the gantries. Thus, the sleeve and gantries can be moved across the trailer along parallel paths. The tracks which carry the sled run across the entire extent of the first trailer, between the frame guides and the gantry guides, and extend onto the second trailer far enough that the sled can be positioned completely on the second trailer. A ramp is located on the second trailer at the ends of the sled tracks which allows vehicles to be driven up onto the sled.
Identifying indicia marked on the ramp enable the operator to determine the wheel base of the vehicle which is ready to be loaded, and similar indicia marked on the sled allow the operator to place the cradles on the sled at a separation which corresponds to this wheel base. Thus the sled can be prepared for the vehicle before the vehicle is driven onto the sled.
Rams located on the sled move between extended positions where they engage the sides of the sleeve and retracted positions where they do not. Thus the sled can be used to move the sleeve along the sleeve guides into and out of a container.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which moves motor vehicles one at a time into and out of a lightweight open-centered sleeve without requiring that they be driven.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide such an apparatus which permits the vehicles to be raised easily and quickly when they are in the sleeve and attached to the sleeve when they are in the raised position.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which can also be used to push a sleeve into and pull a sleeve from a cargo container.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which uses a sled to move the vehicles into and out of the sleeve.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which uses cradles that engage the vehicles' tires to lift the vehicles.
It is a yet further object of the subject invention to provide such an apparatus in which the cradles are recessed in the sled when the vehicles are driven onto the sled.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which quickly and easily raises motor vehicles which have been positioned within an open centered sleeve and attaches the vehicles to the sleeve in their raised position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for loading motor vehicles into a lightweight open centered sleeve without having to drive the vehicles into the sleeve.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.